A Bold New Life
by AOFW Fox
Summary: A fic based on the Animals of Farthing Wood. Bold has tricked his parents and his mate Whisper into thinking he was dead so he could avoid re-entering White Deer Park, thus keeping his oath to never go back. What will his new life be like?


**Chapter 1-A Brother's Sadness, and a Brother's Lie**

Late in the afternoon, a young fox came running out of White Deer Park.  
He looked around, and saw where his brother lay dead on the ground, after a long  
trek to White Deer Park to make sure that his cubs lived in safety.

Friendly walked slowly over to his brother, and sadness enveloped him. They had  
never been close as brothers, but Friendly still loved him as much as he did his  
sister, his family and a blue fox that he had been seeing recently.

While Friendly thought that his brother had made a foolish mistake leaving the  
park, he had to admit that he was proud of his brother,for forgetting his oath to  
never return to the Park, so he could be sure that his cubs and his mate could live  
in a safe place.

Friendly looked at his brother. Taking in what had happened to him during the time  
in which Bold had left the park. He noticed the scar above his eye, from where the  
wire had gotten caught there, and the leg where Bold was shot by a hunter.  
Friendly also noticed-with great sadness-how old, thin and frail his brother looked.  
To Friendly, it hardly looked like Bold at all.

"He hurt more than I ever did, and yet he still kept going." Friendly thought.

Then speaking softly into his brother's ear, Friendly said:"My dear brother we will  
all miss you.I apologise for any quarrels we had before, and for anything else that  
had happened between us when we where young.

I just wish that you could hear me say this to you. Good-bye my brother and I  
hope you have a pleasant journey."

Tears ran down Friendly's muzzle as he looked at his brother one last time, before  
he ran back into the park, and back to the family Bold would never see  
did Friendly know however, he was being watched from a dark shadow high in the  
trees, waiting for the right moment to approach the unmoving body of Bold.

=================  
Crow watched Friendly re-enter the Park. He had been sitting on a high branch in  
a tree nearby, and had seen the whole exchange.  
Crow looked around from his high position to make sure that nobody was around,  
before flying down to Bold's body with a dead rat in his beak, and another rat in  
his claws.

Crow put down the rats, then he bent down towards Bold's head, and  
whispered:"There's no-one around here, you get stop faking now."

Bold opened his eyes and looked at his old friend.

"You sure?" asked Bold.

"Yep, nobody's here," said Crow. "Here, got you something."

Bold started to get up, and he instantly fell down again, his legs stiff from being  
still for a long time.

"You okay?" asked Crow.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." replied Bold, as he tried to stand up for the second time.

hen Bold managed to stand up, he stood still for a couple of minutes, to let the  
feeling back in his legs.

When he had feeling back in his legs, Bold stretched the cramps out of his legs and  
Crow heard him mutter something about "never doing something like this again."  
After all the cramps where out of Bold's muscles, he attacked one of the rats that  
Crow had given him with great hunger.

"God that tastes good," said Bold through a mouth-full of rat. "I was so hungry,  
and lying down in the same pose without moving is hard enough as it is."

"Do you still want to go through with this?" Crow asked Bold. "Are you sure that  
you don't want to be with your family again, or are you happy living out here?"

Prior to Bold reaching White Deer Park, Bold had made a plan. To fake his own  
death through shallow and irregular breathing, and incredibly good luck so Whisper  
and his cubs were safe and he didn't have to go back into the park.

"I almost backed out of it a couple of times," admitted Bold as he swallowed the  
last piece of the rat. "But my mind is set. I'm not going back."

Bold then started eating the other rat, and there was silence between the two of  
them for a couple of minutes. When he had finished, Crow broke the silence.

"Well there's no point hanging around here, so let's get going." said Crow. "You  
where lucky to pull that one off. You should thank your…"

"Lucky Stars." smiled Bold. And the two of them laughed as they walked away  
from White Deer Park to start a new life out side White Deer Park.


End file.
